When you hear of a former United States naval vessel being set on fire later this coming August, fret not, it is not a naval exercise that had gone awry, and neither is it a successful terrorist attack, but rather, the U.S. Navy intends to use it as a platform to test firefighting robots. The use of firefighting robots are meant to prevent the loss of lives in the event of a fire. If successful, I am quite sure that there is still plenty of work to be done before these humanoid robots would be given full reign of a firefighting effort on board a ship, which might take a fair number of years before it is perfected.
Hopefully the test that will happen later this August would see the machines prevail against an intentional fire at Mobile Bay, Alabama, aboard a decommissioned vessel that has been specially dedicated to firefighting exercises. What was previously known as the USS Shadwell would be the venue of choice where the robots take the step to stamp their mark and authority. Of course, at the end of the day, firefighting happens to be a team effort, so you will not find any robot flying solo in the event of an emergency. These robots’ movements will be dictated by hand and voice commands given by a person who is standing nearby.
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